MOBRIDGE – Aberdeen Roncalli erased all but one point of what was a 16-point deficit Tuesday night, but couldn’t quite propel itself into the lead, falling just short at Mobridge-Pollock 50-45 in a non-conference girls’ basketball contest.

“I don’t think we could have scripted a worse start to a game than what we got into,” said Cavaliers’ coach Derek Larson. 

Mobridge-Pollock, now 4-0 on the season, raced out to a double-digit lead before the visiting Cavaliers had hit their second field goal of the night, putting Roncalli in catch-up mode early.

“We just could not get a shot to fall early,” Larson said. “They hit a ton of shots in the first half, and we didn’t help ourselves out with missed bunnies, some turnovers and not guarding our girl in the full court.”

Roncalli scratched the deficit to 11 points by halftime, then put together a third-quarter run that gave the Cavaliers a chance at the lead with under two minutes to play in the quarter. Claire Crawford played a big role in that run, converting on a 4-point play that cut the Tigers’ lead to just seven points with 3:10 to play.

The Cavaliers then cut the lead to five, then three and finally to just one point at 35-34 with 1:40 to play.

But the Tigers survived, pushing the lead back to three by the end of the quarter and ballooning it back to double digits in the fourth.

“They made a giant run,” Larson said. “It was a three-point game and it got back up to 10 or 11 real fast. Just seemed like we couldn’t get over the hump the rest of the way.”

Blake Thompson led the way for the host Tigers, finishing with 17 points. Charley Henderson added 13, and Tegan Konold finished with nine.

Roncalli got 17 points from Crawford, nine of which came in the third quarter. Ava Hanson finished with 14 points, and Gabby Thomas came off the bench for six points

“I was happy with our effort, especially in the second half, but it’s just hard to climb out of that when you’re down 16 in the first half,” Larson said.

Roncalli will close out the week and the pre-holiday portion of its schedule on Saturday when it hosts Northwestern at 5:30 p.m.

ABERDEEN RONCALLI (1-1): McKenna O’Keefe 1 0-0 3, Maddie Huber 1 1-2 3, Claire Crawford 5 4-6 17, Rylee Voeller 1 0-2 2, Ava Hanson 6 0-1 14, Gabby Thomas 3 0-0 6. Totals 17 5-9 45.

MOBRIDGE-POLLOCK (4-0): Tegan Konold 2 3-5 9, Jacy Netterville 0 0-2 0, Charley Henderson 6 0-1 13, Faith Heil 0 4-6 4, Blake Thompson 6 3-5 17, Brooke Bain 2 0-0 7. Totals 17 10-19 50.

Aberdeen Roncalli 5 16 34 45

Mobridge-Pollock 16 27 37 50

3-point field goals – O’Keefe, Crawford 3, Hanson 2; Konold 2, C. Henderson, Thompson 2, Bain. Fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 17; Mobridge-Pollock 16.